Cardiovascular disease fact sheet

Share this

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to all diseases and conditions involving the heart and blood vessels. The main types of CVD in Australia are coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure/cardiomyopathy. (1)

Mortality

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death in Australia. There were 43,477 deaths attributed to CVD in Australia in 2017. This means that on average, 119 Australians die from CVD each day, or one every 12 minutes. (2)

CVD accounted for 27% of all deaths in Australia in 2017, including 26% for males and 28% for females. (2)

Hospitalisation

CVD was the main cause for 576,000 hospitalisations in 2016/17. Since 2007/08, the rate of cardiovascular disease separations has increased each year by an average of 2.2%. (3)

Prevalence

One in six Australians are affected by cardiovascular disease, accounting for more than 4.2 million Australians. (4)

Overall, people in the lower socioeconomic groups, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and those living in regional and remote areas generally have higher rates of hospitalisation and death resulting from CVD than other Australians. (1)

Lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease

A higher burden of risk factors is associated with a higher lifetime risk of death from CVD. These risk factors include high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, overweight or obesity, and physical inactivity. (5)

Mortality risks

Men aged 55 years with at least two major risk factors were six times as likely to die from CVD by age 80 than men with no or one CVD risk factor (29.6% vs. 4.7%). (5)

Women aged 55 years with at least two major risk factors were three times as likely to die from CVD by age 80 than men with no or one CVD risk factor. (5)

Morbidity risks

Men aged 45 years with two or more risk factors had a 49.5 per cent chance of having a cardiovascular event by age 80. Men with no risk factors only had a 1.4 per cent chance of having a cardiovascular event by age 80. (5)

Women aged 45 years old with two or more risk factors had a 30.7 per cent chance of having a major cardiovascular event by age 80. Women with no risk factors only had a 4.1 per cent chance of having a major cardiovascular event by age 80. (5)

Burden of disease

CVD accounts for 15 percent of the total burden of disease in Australia, second only to cancers at 19 percent of the total burden. (6)

In 2012-13, $5.0 billion was spent providing health care to admitted patients with CVD. This accounted for 11.1 percent of total admitted health expenditure – the largest share of health expenditure of any disease group.(7)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016, Australian Burden of Disease Study: Impact and causes of illness and death in Australian 2011, Australian Burden of disease Study series no. 3, BOD 4, Canberra.